Serving in the Ukraine Dnepropetrovsk Misson for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Start of My 2nd Transfer!

Man, does time fly. I can’t believe I have already been in Ukraine for 6 whole weeks. It is crazy. Last week was a very good one to end the transfer with. We had our zone Thanksgiving celebration in Kherson at the Webb’s apartment. It was absolutely wonderful. Marvelous. Exquisite. Nothing like a home cooked meal 🙂 Sister Webb said that she felt like she had kids again and was back home, so that was kind of depressing, but it was a great day in general. Elder Sarkisian has this whole plan of how he needs 3 sons and 1 daughter, and what their names will be. And when he explained that, she said that she would have to teach him a biology lesson about the birds and the bees, and she wanted him to let her know how that worked out. It was super funny.

Also last Monday, we had a lesson with Vania. He is now officially on date to be baptized on the 11th! He didn’t come to church yesterday so it will be pushed back to the 18th, but he is making a lot of progress and doing very well. It has been a great morale booster. We mostly have been working with inactive members, and we have gotten 3 guys to start coming to church, which has been very good. The branch only has two Melchizidek Priesthood holders in addition to the missionaries, so if we get them going, it would really help a lot!

We also had a Thanksgiving celebration as a district on Thursday. It was way good, we made chicken and mashed potatoes, and had vegetables and bread. We didn’t do too shabby if I do say so myself 🙂 It was sort of a depressing day, because I was missing home and my friends a lot, but I’m sure that I will survive.

I am also very excited for this week because I will get to go to Simferopol! We have zone conference on Wednesday, Elder Lawrence from the Area Presidency will be speaking to us. It should be very good. I’m also very excited to see everyone and catch up. We leave tomorrow, and have a 10 hour bus ride, which I am NOT looking forward too, but it will be a party once we get there. Some of the people I will get to see, will be Elder Cook and Elder Takagi. Who are they you might ask? They are two of the missionaries in the group younger than me, meaning I AM NO LONGER THE MISSION BABY! It is a great feeling to finally be a toddler and somewhat more grown up (and maybe sophisticated?) haha. I am very very excited to go to the Crimea for the first time.

As for the weather, it is getting colder, it has been rainy the last few days, but still no snow. The coldest it has been has been about 7 (CELSIUS….not Farenheit. haha) so it isn’t too bad.

On Saturday, we went to a cultural concert, it was so dang cool! Vania played the drums in it, and the music (especially the accordian solo) was amazing. They had some weird instruments, that I don’t even know what any of them are called, but it was way sweet music.

I finished reading the Book of Alma this week, and it was excellent, as usual. I love the war chapters espeically. Here are some things I (re)noticed:

1. Captain Moroni is a G. His entire strategy was to make preparations and always be strengthening yourself for when the battle does happen. Very, very good life advice. One of the things he says, in Alma 59:9, is that he knows it will be easier to retain the city, than to let it go and have to fight to get it back. The point is, it is always easier to just not sin. It is always easier to never start doing things you shouldn’t than to do them and try to correct your behavior after bad habits are formed.

2. The Strippling Warriors are also amazing. They were focused, dilligent, believing, and courageous. They had never fought before, and when it came down to it, not a single one of them died. This was in thanks to their buying into the system. They never doubted, they always worked, and they had faith. When they got into the heat of it, they were prepared for what they needed to do.

Just a thought for you all. Also, congratulations to my brother, Kyle, who will be going to St. Louis to do his residency!